Sunday, October 21, 2012

Iran Talks?

It appears that the Obama Administration is planning to talk to Iran if the President is re-elected in November. Of course, the Obama Administration is now denying that the reports are true. I don't believe them.

I have no problem with any President discussing Iran's nuclear program in one on one talks. However, I would add two caveats to that. First, that the President or his representatives go into the discussion with the understanding that no sanctions are lifted or delayed until Iran accepts full, verifiable inspections of an ended nuclear program. Two, that there is clarity on the part of the President that Iran has a long record of using negotiations as a tool to buy time and divide alliances against them. Iran last tried this in February 2012. It was a joke then and it is probably a joke now. But... the cause of peace and the horror of war demand that we extinguish all diplomatic avenues before resorting to the use of force. Let me emphasize again - no concessions until a full solution is reached.